California saw the election of only two new members of Congress in November. For all the gains of the Republican Party nationwide, there were no shifts in power for the California delegation, as one of the newly elected members is a Republi- can replacing a Republican, and the other is a Democrat replacing a Democ- rat.
Jeff Denham replaces the retiring Repub- lican George Radanovich in California’s 19th Congressional District, which con- tains Oakdale, Madera, and points west. He comes from a business background and ran on a platform of fiscal responsi- bility. There is not much information available concerning his record on sub- stance abuse issues. The only indicator we have is that Denham is not a sup- porter of the recently enacted Afford- able Care for America act. The man he replaced, Radanovich, was not a strong supporter of our field, as he opposed needle exchange programs, and favored enforcement offer treatment.
Rep. Diane Watson, a Democrat, retired, and she will be missed. A staunch advo- cate of mental health services, Watson was a school psychologist and a cham- pion for behavioral health issues. Karen Bass replaces the retiring Watson from Los Angeles, in California’s 33rd Congres- sional District, which contains Culver City and Ladera Height. Bass is a long-time champion of health care expansion, and worked hard on the issue in the Califor- nia State Legislature. Given that two of her top priorities are health care and employment, we hope she will be recep- tive to working with us to expand the substance abuse prevention and treat- ment workforce in California. Bass has a history of working on substance abuse issues: founded the nonprofit Community Coalition in 1990 in response to the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and served as the organization’s execu- tive director for 14 years. A former phy- sician assistant, she has also been a clini- cal instructor in the Physician Assistant Program at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. Even with only two new members in Con- gress, CAADAC has an opportunity to do what it does best in Washington: edu- cate. We plan on scheduling meetings in
the very near future with both of their offices, so they can learn more about our mission and workforce. As we know, many politicians do not offer their sup- port to our issues not because of a lack of interest, but because of a lack of knowledge.
There are other changes in Congress that CAADAC members should be aware of as well. The House Appropriations Com- mittee, responsible for establishing fund- ing levels for every federal program, will be chaired by Hal Rogers of Ken- tucky. While Mr. Rogers does not have an impressive record of supporting La- bor/HHS programs in the past, he is a dedicated founder of the newly estab- lished House Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse. Mr. Rogers has been a strong voice for establishing policies that can cut prescription drug abuse and illegal traf- ficking. However, most of his work thus far has focused on law enforcement and their involvement in this issue. It remains to be seen if this zeal carries over to funding research and services that are connected to this issue. His co-chair on the Prescription Drug Abuse Caucus is Califor- nia’s own Rep. Mary Bono-Mack.
The subcommittee responsible for appro- priations to the Department of Health and Human Services, and in turn agencies such as NIDA and SAMHSA, will be Denny Re- hberg of Montana. He has a mixed re- cord on health and substance abuse issues, but only an 11% rating from the American Public Health Association. He cast a “no” vote on the House bill to enact the Wellstone/Domenici Parity act. He later voted “yes” on the final version, but the intitial “no” vote is making many in the advocacy community very cautious.
A notable absence in the 112th congress will be that of Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the undeniable Congressional champion for substance abuse treatment over the last decade. Following closely on the heels of Rep. Jim Ramstad’s retirement after the 111th Congress, the Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus has lost both its De- mocrat and Republican chairmen in a span of just two years. This means that Con- gress is now without a member whose top priority is substance abuse treatment and prevention. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio will be taking over as the Democratic chairman of the ATR caucus, joining Rep. Mike Sullivan of Oklahoma as the Republican chairman. One thing is for sure: Our work is cut out for us! So let’s get started. CapWiz is going to be working overtime this spring!
Regards,
Andrew
